Wednesday, November 3, 2010

"This earth was once a garden place..."

This past week was really special. We were able to go on a history trip with all the sister missionaries and a church historian. We visited Far West and saw towns around there but one of my favorite parts of the tour was visiting Adam-ondi-Ahman. Even before arriving, I could feel something special within my heart as we entered the valley. We went up and heard stories about the early Saints and everything they went through in Adam-ondi-Ahman and Far West. We sang the song, "Adam-ondi-Ahman" and took pictures. It was really a special trip and I feel more inspired and excited to continue sharing the gospel.

Our investigator, Ben, is still learning and we are so excited for him. He came into our lesson the other day and said he stayed up until 3:00 in the morning reading the Book of Mormon. He said once he gets reading he feels like he can't stop. It's so amazing! I love the Book of Mormon. There are times when I wish personal study time would go on for an extra hour or two because I don't stop reading and studying it. The only thing with Ben is that he doesn't want to pray and ask if it's true until he has read the entire Book of Mormon. He is a lawyer and needs facts and evidence to everything. He had a problem when he came to church and saw that we served water instead of wine at the sacrament. We shared with him that the Lord told Joseph Smith in D&C 27 that "it mattereth not" what is served as long as it is done in the right manner and for the right reason. He wanted proof of modern revelation of this. I'm so grateful for the promptings of the spirit because earlier, before our lesson, I was reading about the sacrament and copied a page out of a book that had an explanation of water instead of wine by Elder Bruce R. McConkie. As soon as I gave him that paper and he read it, he said "Oh, okay! I was just confused." And that was it! We were scared we were going to loose him for a second there but as soon as he can read about it, he is fine.

There are always those moments in missionary work that hurt your heart though. We met a girl named Lia who was so energetic and wanted to learn more. We scheduled an appointment with her and told her to look up mormon.org if she had any questions. I had started studying and looking for answers to some of her questions when she called us and told us that she looked on mormon.org and has a hard time believing that Jesus Christ is not the only God. She also said she didn't understand baptisms for the dead and other issues. She had even gone on the website and chatted with missionaries about it. She said she was sorry and that maybe sometime she'll want to learn. In the past, I've been able to just let things go but this one hurt. It's so hard when you see someone's eyes light up when they hear about the restored gospel because it's familiar to them! They don't know it, but their spirit's do...it has a familiar ring because they voted for it before this life. It was hard but I'm grateful for those that the Lord prepares and for those who are willing to learn.

This past week, I've been studying about the atonement. I'm so grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ and his gift. It is life saving...literally! We wouldn't be able to return back to our Heavenly Father's presence if it weren't for it. I love Him so much and am trying to be more like Him every day. Love you all!